Program moving to W’bago

June 3, 2012

Winnebago Elementary School will be looking forward to a new addition next school year.

Southern Plains Education Cooperative will be moving into the Winnebago Elementary school facility this fall.

"Many years ago there was a similar program in the Winnebago school,"?Sarah Mittelstadt of Southern Plains Education Cooperative says. "From what I understand, they had done some work indirectly with Southern Plains."?

Formerly housed in the Lincoln School in Fairmont, Southern Plains was unfortunately forced to find a new location.

"The school is closing, so we needed to find a new home," Mittelstadt says.

Winnebago Elementary had room available so they decided to join the school.

"They will have to do a little rearranging but we will use the second floor at the school,"?she explains.

Mittelstadt goes on to explain that the area seemed like a good fit for the program as well, making the move practical.

Southern Plains already caters to five main school districts which included Martin County West, Granada-Huntley-East Chain, Blue Earth Area, Fairmont Area and Truman.

"We also do some work with Maple River and United South Central schools, but they are not a part of our main five,"?she adds.

The programs goal is to provide an educational setting that will help students with special needs.

"Some of the students in the program require mental health support,"?Mittelstadt explains. "Human Services works with us on that."

There will be a lot of staff on hand with the addition of this program at the Winnebago school.

"We will have a full-time teacher, full-time paraprofessionals, a social worker, and a mental health therapist,"?she explains.

Southern Plains Education Cooperative is excited about the amount of staff they will be able to provide at Winnebago.